The Crown Office yesterday issued an arrest warrant for disgraced former Rangers owner Craig Whyte, in connection with his alleged “fraudulent acquisition” of Rangers in 2011.

Craig Whyte bought the club from David Murray for £1 in May 2011 but the Ibrox side went into administration on February 14 2012 and Duff & Phelps were appointed as administrators.

News of the warrant being issued came hours after three Duff & Phelps employees and a solicitor acting on behalf of Whyte were arrested in dawn raids.

Paul Clark, David Whitehouse and David Greer of Duff & Phelps as well as Gary Withey, a solicitor who worked with Whyte’s law firm Collyer Bristow, were arrested as part of the investigation into the Rangers takeover.

In a statement, Police Scotland said: “Following a Police Scotland operation, on Friday 14th November 2014 four men have been detained as a result of the ongoing investigation into the alleged fraudulent acquisition of Rangers Football Club.

“At around 0600 officers from Police Scotland, Thames Valley, Cheshire and Surrey Police attended a number of addresses in England and detained four men.”

Despite being cleared of any misconduct or conflict of interest in their appointment in May 2013, a BBC documentary by the award-winning journalist Mark Daly showed previous dealings between the firm and Craig Whyte.

Whyte is reportedly out of the country at the minute with a residence in Monaco.

The operation took place at a number of addresses in England.